Wonderful Tonight
by Jenwryn
Summary: Meg/McKay. Very romantic, just a little one-shot which is probably the definite celebration of this ship between my OC and her genius scientist. It was written while I was listening to Michael Buble, which should tell you the mood it's set in. R&R.


_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended. _

_A/N: Do you want to know what I wrote on the top of this story as a note? These were the words: "I'm feeling romantic. And I'm listening to Michael Bublé. And the day is melting into evening and it's Autumn outside. Please excuse the wistful look on my face and enjoy this little piece of Meaghan and Rodney softness..." Exactly. What the woman said._

_Beta'd by the lovely ProfessorZ._

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**Wonderful Tonight**

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_"...I feel wonderful tonight because I see / the love light in your eyes_

_And the wonder of it all / is that you don't realize how much I love you..."_

- Eric Clapton, 'Wonderful Tonight', Unichapel Music Inc, 1977.

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It was Autumn; the leaves had turned a translucent yellow colour and were tumbling down upon the long, grassed walkways of the estate. A couple walked amongst the trees and the scattering leaves, scraps of orange and burgundy whispering beneath their feet as they moved. Now and then a whimsical gust of wind would scurry through the park and turn the air gold with leaves and catch them willy-nilly into the woman's hair. Then she would stop walking and make her husband pick them out with the attentive care that he might usually dedicate to some complex alien device. It wasn't that his wife usually worried about her hair, but Elizabeth had asked her to make an effort for the function, and so she had.

Sometimes Meaghan McKay could spent hours marvelling about the apparent similarity between certain planets in the Pegasus Galaxy and the one on which she'd been born. She'd asked Rodney about it once and he'd given her some long-winded answer about the necessary chemical requirements common to all known organic life. Which she'd translated to mean that he was just as stumped by it as she was.

There were actually days when she was almost disappointed by how familiar it could all be. Then there were other times when she was deeply grateful for the common ground.

This evening was one of those times.

"You're sure I look all right?" she asked for the umpteenth time.

Rodney glanced at her sideways with an impatient look on his face. "Meaghan. My answer isn't going to change just because you keep asking. But I might pass out from sheer boredom at the constant repetition."

She gave him a sour look, but the feel of his hand slipping around her waist and coming to rest on the curve of her hip belied the irritation in his tone.

The Autumn breeze danced over them and they paused at the crest of the slight rise that their path had been leading them up, and looked down at the residence spreading out in the midst of the gardens beneath them. Meaghan's breath caught. She just stood there and gazed at it. She could feel the skirt of her long dress shifting lightly in the wind and brushing gently against the heeled shoes she'd taken off and was carrying in one hand. With a smile in her eyes she turned in the half circle of Rodney's arm and whispered reverently, "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

The residence - and the estate that it found itself in - belonged to a certain leader allied to the Lantean Colony. Meaghan knew that the interplanetary relationship was important; Elizabeth had warned them to be on their best behaviour, and all of the senior staff had been invited. She had also known that he was a very wealthy man. But she still hadn't dreamt that the dinner was going to be held somewhere quite so beautiful.

Her husband wasn't as impressed. "Oh, yes, a real palace," he muttered, his mind already exhausted at the thought of all the ridiculous pomp and ceremony he was about to be submitted to. And the food probably wasn't even going to be good. He'd been to this planet before. Not a scrap of meat to be had for love nor money.

Meaghan wrinkled her nose at him, amused by the knowledge that she knew exactly what was going on inside his head, and said cheerfully, "Well, I'm glad we came. It makes a pleasant change to be offworld. And Rodney - just look at the gardens..."

A smile slipped onto his face despite his best intentions to wallow in his crossness, and he glanced down, amused. "My crazy little tree hugger," he teased, and tucked a stray red curl behind her ear.

"You know," she said softly with a smile up at him, "This is our closest thing to a real date in _ages_. You have to be nice to me and pretend you're enjoying yourself."

He pulled a long face, "Are you kidding? I've been to more of these functions than you have, Meg. They generally make watching re-runs of _SeaChange _sound like fun."

"Hey," she protested, "I like that show, and it's not my fault Dom bought me the DVDs. Plus, I never made you watch it. You're just jealous cause David Wenham's cuter than you are."

Rodney rolled his eyes, "Oh, please. Besides, I bet he'd never put up with your cheek as long as I have." She laughed at him, then he sighed and continued, "I suppose we should keep moving. Elizabeth will have our scalps if we're late. I bet her and John have already been there for half an hour."

Meaghan nodded.

"I supposed I'll have to put my shoes back on," she commented with a frown as they walked down the hill and into the gardens. Fallen leaves had caught in amongst the low hedges and bare flower beds, and speckled them gold.

"I _told _you you'd regret wearing them."

She groaned. "I thought we'd agreed to leave the _I told you so's_ out of our vocabularies."

Her husband grinned, "A fact which you only remember when it's not you saying it."

They had reached the front lawn of the residence.

"Are you _sure _I look all right?" she checked nervously yet again as she leant down to wipe the grass from her feet, slip her shoes on, and do their straps up quickly. When she stood straight again, he put his hands on her shoulders, held her at arm's length, and then picked a final stray leaf from her hair. Glancing at the other guests milling around them, he leant in close and murmured, "You look wonderful tonight, Meaghan McKay. Except for those those shoes. And so after dinner, and we've made enough small talk to keep everyone happy, I want you to take them off and leave them under a table somewhere."

She blinked, but grinned at his soft warm voice, "You what?"

He smiled and nodded in the direction that the path continued down, "I just spotted a swing hanging from one of those trees that you're so nuts about, and I'm guessing it would suit you perfectly in the moonlight..."


End file.
